Communities In Schools Students Join President Obama for Launch of ‘My Brother’s Keeper’

Arlington, Va. – Today, Communities In Schools (CIS) students Michael Carter, Michael Cruz- Benitez, Deavin Judd and Elron Russell, Jr., from Washington, D.C., joined President Obama in the East Room of the White House for the kick-off of the ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ initiative. The President is bringing together foundations, companies and nonprofits like CIS to identify strategies to empower young men of color by keeping them in school and out of the criminal justice system. The announcement also includes a program to evaluate effective policies and publicize results to school systems around the country.

“I am so proud to be here and so amazed at this place,” said 16-year-old Michael Cruz Benitez.

“We all need to be taught, we all need guidance and support,” said Michael Carter, a 15-year-old student.

“Communities In Schools is honored that President Obama selected these four young leaders as models for the promise of evidence-based dropout prevention programs,” said Dan Cardinali, president of Communities In Schools. “We are proud of every one of the 1.3 million K-12 students we work with each day, and we look forward to working with the Administration this year to address inequality and level the playing field, one student at a time.”

Through our locally controlled model, CIS has self-reported data that demonstrates a 99 percent retention rate among potential dropouts, and that it has propelled 96 percent of eligible seniors to graduation and successfully helped 97 percent of students continue to the next grade. External evaluations have determined CIS is the most successful dropout prevention program among all fully scaled dropout prevention programs in the United States.

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About Communities In Schools

Working directly in more than 2,300 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia, Communities In Schools is the nation’s leading dropout prevention organization proven to keep students in school and on the path to graduation. For the 2015-2016 school year, Communities In Schools served nearly 1.5 million students and successfully helped 99 percent of our case-managed students stay in school.